October 19, 2022
We took a Gray Line Kelly Tour of Savannah. It was a non-stop 90 minute tour. We chose this option over the Old Town Trolley (Hop On/Hop Off tour here in Savannah because we wanted to get a quicker overview of Savannah without the additional time all that stopping causes. After the 90-min Gray Line Tour, we had the perk of being able to call a Kelly Tour van to pick us up at any of their “stops”, and to take us to another stop location. We thought this might be handy, but we didn’t use it. We just walked to revisit places and take better pictures.
I loved the architecture throughout the historic city. This is just a sample:
Savannah Police Department
The various squares and parks were a delight to take in by walking through them. There are a total of 22 squares. We did not try to visit all of them.
Forsyth Park Fountain: This fountain was erected in 1858! While it was designed after the French ideal of having a central public garden, and this is the most photographed icon of Savannah, it is not in the center of the park. This fountain, while beautiful, is not unique. It was ordered from a catalogue!
Our Kelly Tour guide advised us to eat lunch at Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room (107 Jones St) to really experienced GREAT southern home cooking that was amazing. (Definitely rated well above the more commercialized Paula Dean Kitchen place.) He also let us know when we needed to get there. He was spot on! When we arrived at 1 PM, we were surprised to see a line out the door waiting. However, the line was at least twice as long an hour or so earlier! We were all there to experience an authentic southern family-style dinner. It wasn’t long till they put out the “too late to get in line” sign.
We were seated with six of our new, line-waiting “friends”. The food was really good, and this was a big thing to do in Savannah. Not a single person at our table, including us, knew what the cost was per person! Guess we’ll find out soon enough!
This was the ultimate family-style, southern dining experience. So glad we did it.
Jones Street, which is the center of the Historic District, is considered the most beautiful street with the massive oak trees, brick streets and serene atmosphere. It is this iconic area of homes on Jones Street that evoked the saying “keeping up with the Joneses”.
Fun to get some peeks at a few of the gardens we could see.
Monterey Square:
Chippewa Square: Chippewa Square was laid out in 1815. It was named to honor the men who fought at the Battle of Chippewa in the war of 1812.
This park is popular since this was the setting for the famous bench scene in the movie “Forrest Gump”. While the bench that Tom Hanks sat on was a movie prop bench that is in the Savannah History Museum, the site is still popular for photographs.
A monument to the founder of Savannah, James Edward Oglethorpe is found in the center.
Wright Square:
Madison Square: Named after our 4th President – President James Madison.
Upper New Square was renamed Olgethorpe Square, but know that the statue of the General Olgethorpe is found in the center of Chippewa Square.
Independent Presbyterian Church:
Gothic-Revival Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist – Stunning!!
Additional churches:
Birthplace of Juliette Low – Founder of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.
The brick and stone area of the waterfront and the Old Savannah Cotton Exchange:
These various sets of stairs were super steep! Multiple warnings were posted to use the steps at your own risk! Pictures didn’t capture the severity.
Prior to coming to Savannah, we discovered an architect’s YouTube video about Savannah. He showed a unique stop sign from the 1940’s that is embedded in the pavement of the road! We wanted to find it. I asked our Kelly Tour guide about it. He was a Savannah native, but had never heard of it. We were on our own to find it. I remembered a park being near it, so before heading back to the campground, we went to the area we thought it might be.
We found it!!!
Tomorrow — Tybee Island